Committee on the Rights of the Child Closes Ninety-Seventh Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon closed its ninety-seventh session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Argentina, Armenia, Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as on Bahrain’s efforts to implement two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Ann Marie Skelton, Committee Chairperson, said the concluding observations will be available on the session’s webpage on Thursday, 19 September 2024.

Ms. Skelton said during the session, to their great concern, the Committee had to address many violations of children’s lives, particularly the right to life. The Committee had to reiterate that the Convention aimed to ensure the highest level of protection for children and required all States parties and actors to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, applicable in armed conflict when it came to children. Children and armed conflict remained high on the Committee’s agenda, and the Committee participated in several activities in this regard, including holding a dialogue with Israel. The Committee also held several side events, and during private sessions, discussed the resolution of the Human Rights Council for the consideration and elaboration of a fourth Optional Protocol.

As of 13 September, there were 196 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 173 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, 178 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and 52 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the communications procedure.

The Committee had reviewed the reports of Argentina, Armenia, Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan under the Convention, as well as the reports on Bahrain’s efforts to implement the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of children in armed conflict, for which concluding observations were formally adopted. The Committee also adopted the report of its ninety-seventh session.

On individual communications, the Committee had adopted decisions in eight cases. It had found violations of the Convention in one case against Finland concerning the granting of exploration permits on Sami traditional land, affecting the identity and cultural rights of indigenous children. The Committee had declared two cases against France inadmissible. The Committee also discontinued five cases against Argentina, Denmark, Finland and Spain.

During the session, the Committee held an event commemorating the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. The Committee also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, to further strengthen cooperation between the two Committees. In addition, the Committee took concrete steps to strengthen its cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict and with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, by signing cooperation agreements with their two Offices.

Ms. Skelton thanked the Committee members, members of the Secretariat, and all those who had made the ninety-seventh session possible, before closing the session.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee’s ninety-seventh session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

The Committee will hold its ninety-eighth session from 13 to 31 January 2025, during which it is scheduled to review the reports of Ecuador, Eritrea, Gambia, Honduras, Peru, Slovakia and Spain.

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